A History Of Search Engines

In the late 90's we witnessed a knowledge, communication and connection revolution. The "internet boom" saw the creation of some of the largest businesses today. This brought unimaginable innovation and creativity. Old markets were re-energised and new markets established. The internet and search is now deeply engraved into our everyday lives and society. This document charts the relatively short and competitive history of the companies involved during this boom.

1994

- Yahoo is established. Yahoo originally was a directory of other web sites as opposed to a searchable index of pages. By the end of 1994 Yahoo! had already received one million hits.
- Lycos went public with a catalogue of 54,000 documents. Ranked first on Netscape's list of search engines by finding the most hits on the word "surf".
- Infoseek is established.
- AltaVista delivers the Internet's first Web Index.

1995

- Yahoo was incorporated.
- The MSN network of Internet services debuts in the United States.
- Lycos had identified 394,000 documents.
- Netscape decides on Infoseek for their default search, which gave Infoseek major exposure.
- Open Text Launched.
- Megallan is launched.
- Infoseek is launched - who originally hoped to charge for searching.
- Excite is launched.
- LookSmart is founded.
- The term "Search engine optimisation" is added to the dictionary.

1996

- Yahoo raise $33.8 million dollars by selling 2.6 million shares at $13 each.
- Ask Jeeves founded by David Warthen. The new search engine was to allow searcher to type questions in natural language in order to get results. The Jeeves character, based on the butler in the Jeeves and Wooster books by P.G. Wodehouse.
- Lycos claim to index over 60 million documents - more than any other web search engine.
- AltaVista partner with Yahoo!.
- Excite buys Megellan and WebCrawler.

1997

- BackRub search engine (originally created by Larry Page and Sergey Brin) re branded to Google.
- Snap is launched by CNET.
- Open Text ends its operation.
- AOL Search launched, powered by Excite (later to be powered by Google).

1998

- "PC Magazine" reports that Google "has an uncanny knack for returning extremely relevant results" and recognises Google as the search engine of choice in the Top 100 Web Sites for 1998.
- Ask Jeeves for Kids (AJKids) was released.
- Direct hit Launched.

1999

- Google completes a $25-million round of equity funding.
- Yahoo! launch Yahoo! Messenger.
- Ask Jeeves revenues increased and completes its initial public offering of stock.
- AltaVista announce the addition of relevant paid placements. The first sponsored placements on search results. The keywords are auctioned every two weeks.
- It is reported that in 1999, the market share per search engine were Google inferior to 1%, Yahoo 55.81%, MSN 1.25%, Lycos 5.05%, AltaVista 11.18%.

2000

- Google AdWords launches with 350 customers. The self-service ad program promises online activation with a credit card, keyword targeting and performance feedback.
- Yahoo! stocks closed at an all-time high of $118.75 a share.
- Yahoo! and Google signed an agreement which would make Google power searches made on yahoo.
- Ask Jeeves acquired Direct Hit Technologies, Inc.
- Ask Jeeves Purchase Direct hit.

2001

- Google launch Image Search, offering access to 250 million images.
- Yahoo! stocks closed at an all-time low of $8.11.
- Ask Jeeves purchased Piscataway.
- Megallan closed in April.
- Infoseek closed early 2001.
- Snap closed early 2001.
- The top gaining queries in 2001 were 1) Nostradamus, 2) CNN, 3) World Trade Center.

2002

- Google overhaul Adwords. The new Adwords includes a new cost-per-click pricing, a set of APIs, and a partnership with AOL.
- Froogle launched (later called Google Product Search).
- Direct hit formally closed.
- It is reported that in 2002, the market share per search engine were Google 55.1%, Yahoo 20.6%, MSN 9.4%, AOL 3.5%, Lycos 3%, AltaVista 2.4%, Others 1.7%.
- The top gaining queries in 2002 were 1) Spiderman, 2) Shakira, 3) Winter Olympics.

2003

- Google launches its content-targeted advertising service.
- AltaVista was bought by Overture Services, Inc.
- Yahoo acquired Overture Services, Inc (Pay Per click advertising solution).
- It is reported that in 2003, the market share per search engine were: Google 55.2%, Yahoo 21.7%, MSN 9.6%, Ask 1.5%, AOL 3.8%, Lycos 2.6%, AltaVista 2.2%, Others 3.4%.
- The most popular queries in 2003 were 1) Britney Spears, 2) Harry Potter 3) Matrix.

2004

- Google introduce Google Local, offering relevant local business listings, maps, and directions.
- Yahoo! dropped Google-powered results and returned to using its own technology to provide search results.
- Ask Jeeves acquire Interactive Search Holdings.
- It is reported that in 2004, the market share per search engine were: Google 56.4%, Yahoo 21.1%, MSN 9.2%, ASK 1.7%, AOL 3.8%, Lycos 2%, AltaVista 1.7%, Others 4.1%.
- The most popular queries in 2004 were 1) Paris Hilton, 2) Qantas, 3) Australian Idol.

2005

- Google Maps goes live.
- Google acquire Urchin, a web analytics tool
- Yahoo! and Microsoft announced that Yahoo! Messenger and MSN Messenger would become interoperable.
- Microsoft unveils adCenter which allow clients to manage paid search listings on MSN together with more than 30 other leading search engines.
- IAC/InterActiveCorp agreed to acquire Ask Jeeves for 1.85 billion dollars.
- It is reported that in 2005, the market share per search engine were Google 46.2%, Yahoo 22.5%, MSN 12.6%, ASK 1.6%, AOL 5.4%, Others 11.7%.
- The top gaining queries in 2005 were 1) Myspace, 2) Ares, 3) Baidu.
- It is reported that in the UK 768.3m British Pounds were spent on PPC (paid for listings) in 2005. A market share of 56.2% of online advertising.

2006

- Google release Google Trends.
- Google completes its acquisition of YouTube.
- Google introduce it's BPF (best practice funding) agency incentive.
- Microsoft adCenter is launched - replacing Overture on MSN Search.
- Microsoft and Facebook announce its partnership.
- Jeeves the butler was phased out. Ask Jeeves is renamed as "Ask".
- AdWords Editor was released January 24, 2006.
- It is reported that in 2006, the market share per search engine were: Google 49.6%, Yahoo 23.9%, MSN 8.8%, ASK 2.8%, AOL 6.2%, Others 8.7%.
- The top search queries in 2006 were 1) Bebo, 2) Myspace, 3) World Cup.
- It is reported that in the UK 1,165.6m British Pounds were spent on PPC (paid for listings) in 2006. A market share of 57.8% of online advertising.

2007

- Google Hot Trends is launched.
- Google Street View debuts in Google Maps in the U.S.
- Ask3D launched.
- Microsoft acquire aQuantive for a reported $US 6 billion.
- Yahoo!'s Search Marketing's Panama is released, providing features such as "Quality score", Geo-targeting, Ad Testing, Campaign Budgeting, and Campaign scheduling.
- It is reported that in 2007, the market share per search engine were: Google 56.3%, Yahoo 21.5%, MSN 8.4%, ASK 2%, AOL 5.3%, Others 6.5%.
- The fastest rising queries in 2007 were 1) iPhone, 2) Badoo, 3) Facebook.
- It is reported that in the UK 762.3m British Pounds (H1) and 1,619.1m British Pounds (H2) was spent on PPC (paid for listings) in 2007. A market share of 57.12 (H1) and 57.6% (H2) of online advertising.

2008

- Google complete the acquisition deal for DoubleClick.
- Google Website Optimizer comes out of beta.
- Microsoft Corporation made an unsolicited bid to acquire Yahoo! for US$44.6 billion.
- Yahoo! subsequently formally rejected the bid.
- It is reported that in 2008, the market share per search engine were: Google 59.3%, Yahoo 16.9%, MSN 13.3%, ASK 2.1%, AOL 4.1%, Others 4.3%.
- The fastest rising queries in 2008 were 1) Sarah Palin, 2) Beijing 2008, 3) Facebook login.
- It is reported that in the UK 1,986.9m British Pounds were spent on PPC (paid for listings) in 2008. A market share of 59.3% of online advertising.

NOW

As you can see, over a 10/11 year period, the balance of power has shifted from Yahoo to Google. The way we search has changed. The internet is evolving and as a result, everything it touches is being forced to evolve and improve too.

I find working in search engine marketing exciting, challenging and rewarding. With the emergence of Bing, Local advertising, evolving PPC and SEO techniques, display, content and social targeting I am confident that search and search engine marketing will continue to evolve and push the boundaries of technology, innovation and communication.

What do you consider to be the next big thing?